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I've got players who rely heavily on Leomund's Tiny hut for a "safe" night time rest. I'm alright with them using it to help, but it gets irritating having a wrench thrown into my nighttime attacks. I have found some ways to deal such as Dispel Magic or having something camp them. One time, I even attacked and killed their horses which were outside the hut. I was going to try a burrowing creature but SageAdvice put forward that there IS a floor in the hut. That's when I came across the Phase Spider. So the question:

Could something move into the Ethereal Plane, get to an area that would be inside Leomund's Tiny Hut, and then move back to the Material Plane?

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No, Leomund's Tiny Hut is made of magical force which blocks passage in the Ethereal Plane

In the description of the Border Ethereal on DMG p. 48:

A traveler on the Ethereal Plane is invisible and utterly silent to someone on the overlapped plane, and solid objects on the overlapped plane don’t hamper the movement of a creature in the Border Ethereal. The exceptions are certain magical effects (including anything made of magical force) and living beings.

So, objects made of magical force will block passage on the Ethereal Plane just as they do on the Material plane.

The description for Leomund's Tiny Hut (PHB, p. 255) says:

A 10-foot radius immobile dome of force springs into existence around and above you and remains stationary for the duration.

So, since Leomund's Tiny Hut is a dome of magical force, it should protect your party from intruders on the Ethereal Plane as well.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I had a feeling that I missed something. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction in the DMG! \$\endgroup\$
    – ConfusedDM
    Commented Jun 25, 2019 at 11:52
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    \$\begingroup\$ @ConfusedDM: You did. Teleport will get through. \$\endgroup\$
    – Joshua
    Commented Jun 25, 2019 at 17:46
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Joshua IF you don't have to see where you are teleporting to. You can't see into the dome. \$\endgroup\$
    – Dalamal
    Commented Jun 25, 2019 at 18:24
  • \$\begingroup\$ Dimension Door (4th level conjuration) should be able to pierce it. You do NOT NEED to see your landing location if the outside is opaque. \$\endgroup\$
    – jnovack
    Commented Jul 13, 2020 at 15:04
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A lose reading of the DMG rules suggests that a Tiny Hut blocks the passage through the Ethereal Plane.

As divibisan's answer states, the DMG rules about movement in the Bordered Ethereal strongly implies that going in and out a Tiny Hut via the Ethereal plane is not possible.

Actually, the above ruling is a DM call.

Anyway, this is one possible interpretation of the rules, since the spell description does not say anything about blocking the passage in the Ethereal plane, while there are spells that specify this:

Nothing can physically pass through the wall. It is immune to all damage and can't be dispelled by dispel magic. A disintegrate spell destroys the wall instantly, however. The wall also extends into the Ethereal Plane, blocking ethereal travel through the wall.

A creature inside the cage can't leave it by nonmagical means. [...] The cage also extends into the Ethereal Plane, blocking ethereal travel.


\$^1\$ credits to Soulstreak for having pointed this out in the comments.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ It might be worth noting that Forcecage also blocks ethereal travel (which only supports the reading that tiny hut shouldnt block ethereal travel) dndbeyond.com/spells/forcecage \$\endgroup\$
    – Soulstreak
    Commented Jan 17, 2022 at 13:06
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Soulstreak Good point: added to the answer! \$\endgroup\$
    – Eddymage
    Commented Jan 17, 2022 at 13:14
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Eddymage Just a head up, the most effective way to credit someone is by linking to their profile since the name might change, and since the comment is now obsolete thanks to becoming part of the answer :) \$\endgroup\$
    – Akixkisu
    Commented Jan 17, 2022 at 13:21
  • \$\begingroup\$ -1: The absence of redundant information in this spell that is expressed (but still redundant) in other spells does not negate the rule from the DMG. Or to put it another way, you can't use the absence of information to negate a rule, exceptions to rules in 5e must be specific (and explicit) per the specific vs general rule. \$\endgroup\$
    – illustro
    Commented Jan 17, 2022 at 21:16
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    \$\begingroup\$ @illustro If someone is playing with basic rules then the case against Tiny Hut blocking ethereal plane is much weaker, though. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Jan 17, 2022 at 21:49

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